Eclipse Open Office Integration.

08Aug06

I know a lot of the Coldfusion Community is using CFEclipse, and with Flex Builder 2 being Eclipse based, I think more people are going to get exposure to the Eclipse Platform.

How many people don’t leave there Eclipse editor to do there work? how many people want more and more from there Eclipse Platforms?

For those who already have Open Office installed or even for those who don’t. The Office Integration Editor Plug-in

Another reason not to leave the Eclipse Platform.

While I’m on the subject? how many people use Eclipse for multiple things? how many people prefer to use different applications? I know that even some of the people who use Eclipse for multiple tasks, run the different Eclipse applications in seperate instances instead of switching between perspectives. What do you use Eclipse for? do you use perspectives? instances? or seperate applications?

As for me, I use my Eclipse for Database Access (QuantumDB), Coldfusion (CFEclipse, Flex 2 (Flex Builder 2), Java (JDT), Office Documents (Open office and plugin) and CVS. I use perspectives mainly unless I need to run a different version of the Platform. (Flex Builder 2 I have to currently run Eclipse 3.1). I don’t use the webbrowsers or any email plugins, because I rather have a seperate applications running for these tasks.

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Flex 2 Widget (work in progress)

06Aug06

Just updated my project from Flex 2 Beta 3 to the Final Release of Flex 2.

Heres the url. http://members.optusnet.com.au/gareth_edwards/flexwidget/myflex.html

Still working on it. More as I get the time.

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Flex Frameworks.

03Jul06

What framework are people using for there Flex applications?

Cairngorm 2? or ARP 3 Preview?

What are the benefits of the one over the other? Cairngorm seems to have a lot of support from Adobe. Yet ARP seems to get a lot of attention from its creator, which probably means it will be updated more often. But is this a good or a bad thing?

At a technical level, do both frameworks achieve the same result? better and more manageable code?

Time to download the two frameworks and have a look and see.
ARP. http://osflash.org/arp

Cairngorm 2. http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Cairngorm

Filed under: Flex   |  2 Comments

Bluedragon 7 (CFML Engine).

30Jun06

For those who arn’t aware, Bluedragon is an alternate CFML engine from New Atlanta.

Vince Bonfanti from New Atlanta recently announced the planned features and schedule for the next version of Bluedragon. It seems they have come a long way in a short time. Bluedragon is currently available for Java and .NET platforms, which is good for the language I guess. The more platforms the broader the reach, right? Isn’t that the Adobe Flash Player / Apollo plan? But honestly I rather see people using Java over .NET. Go to Vince’s blog for a full details. http://blog.newatlanta.com/index.cfm

One of the features in particular that Vince announced for the next version was a set of tags. <cfthread> and <cfjoin>, this will give you the ability to spawn additional asynchronous threads and then join the up again. Join essentially means that further down the request you can wait for the asynchronous task to finish.

What is going to happen when Bluedragon’s features a different to that of Adobe’s Coldfusion. I think will start forcing companies to decide between New Atlanta and Adobe. How does the feature set announced effect what we’ll see from Adobe? who knows, maybe time will tell us? Maybe we can ask Tim Buntel?

Finally, what implications do some of these features have? If something as powerful as cfthread is not used correctly, what impact could it have on maintaining our applications? After speaking with several people, some people are a little weary. A public beta planned for late July or early August will hopefully give us a better picture of what these features will bring.

I think some of these things will become a hot topic in the coming weeks. What do you think?

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Flex 2 & Flash Player 9 Released.

28Jun06

Flex 2 SDK, Flex 2 Builder, Flex Data Services 2 and Flash Player 9 have been officially released, along with a new Adobe Flex website.

http://www.flex.org/

I think Adobe are still updating there servers for the new release, but its available for download NOW at the url above.

Now. Where is the Coldfusion 7.02 updater? I’m guessing it will be released as well? To allow the coldfusion community to start using the new Flex 2 remoting.

Very Exciting.

Filed under: Coldfusion, Eclipse, Flex   |  3 Comments

Flex 2 is very close.

26Jun06

The release of flex 2 has been on everyone's mind. June 28, 2006 has been the expected date, but it seems because Adobe have not confirmed or denied this information no one knows if this is correct.

An email to the Flex coders list from David Mendels at Adobe, confirms that the time is near.

A Quote from David's Email:

Expect the ship announcement and the pricing announcement to be simultaneous. With that, the web site will be fully updated.

Expect news soon! All is well.

End Quote.

I also hope this means that Flash Player 9 will also be released, so all can view the amazing new RIA's everyone is creating.

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Coldfusion, Flex and Family Life.

26Jun06

Just wondering how many people out there are doing what I do. Juggle Work, Personal Development time and family. With the new Australian developer derby finishing in August, I'm trying to find time to do my eight to five job, do the usual bit of research for work after hours, learn Flex, write an application worthy of the developer derby and spend time with my family. I'm starting to think maybe the developer derby just isn't worth it for me at the moment. If people out there do it? how do you you do it? whats your secret?

Filed under: Coldfusion, Flex, Personal, Work   |  3 Comments

CFEclipse 1.3 Beta, time to get on board.

25Jun06

If your not using CFEclipse already, now is the time.

http://www.cfeclipse.org/beta
I've been using CFEclipse for a while now, two years or more. Not sure if that's a long time as far as CFEclipse goes? Have people been using it longer than this? I remember jumping from Eclipse 3.0 to 3.1, just recently jumping up to 3.2. I might add that Flex Builder 2 seems to work nicely with 3.2r7.

Back on to the world of CFEclipse, like I said I've been using it for a while, but there are couple of things that keep coming up at work. While I think the CFEclipse crew do a fantastic job, and I'm aware its a non-profit project. It seems the Coldfusion Syntax parser still needs a little work? I'm pretty sure the guys are aware the parsers arn't as stable as they could be, with reported errors on strange things like "url is compulsory for the <cflocation> tag. I don't want to upset anyone and I think the team are doing a great job, all I want to do, is request that maybe a little bit more time be spent on the parser, for things such as the code folding and in line (realtime) edit/parsing speed (seems a little slow) and syntax problems that arn't really problems.

I think that CFEclipse will attract more people when Flex Builder is release. Maybe another quick request to get more people using it. Make sure it runs on the released stand-alone version of Flex Builder, I think you'll get a few more people using it this way.

In the last two years I have been trying to convince friends and colleagues to use Eclipse, CFEclipse and Quantum DB. Finally it seems more and more people who I have been talking to are taking it on and using it, which I think is fantastic.

Once again I think the team are doing a great job, and I realise that its open source, so any thing I've said above are just some suggestions from a loyal fan. Keep up the good work guys.

Filed under: CFEclipse, Coldfusion, Eclipse   |  Leave a Comment

Flex Developer Space Race and Derby

23Jun06

The Rocketboots space race has finished, and the winners have been announced. Although I was proud to have my entry approved as an entry for the space race. Just today I learn't that my entry was (just) good enough to win something.

Initially I wasn't very confident about producing something that I could enter, but you have to be in it to win it, so give it a shot, I did, you've got nothing to lose. I've been trying to encourage work mates to get on board as well. The American Developer Derby and the Rest of the World Rocketboots spacerace have both finished, but a new Australian Derby has begun. If you have an idea and some time, give it your best shot and you could win a Plasma TV!!.

http://www.builderau.com.au/comps/adobe-flex-derby/

Although I know that by more people entering, I have less chance of taking a prize home. I think that the more the merrier. So go to labs.Adobe.com get your copy of Flex 2 (if you haven't already), and give it a go.

Before I go and get started on my new entry (I want a Plasma TV). I would like to know what people think of my Spacerace entry.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/gareth_edwards/flexwidget_v2/myflex.html
(You need Flash Player 9 Beta 3 to view this one.)

http://www.rocketboots.com.au/blog/index.cfm
(Home of the SpaceRace Competition. Many thanks to Robin Hilliard.)

Is it something you could use? What can I do to improve it? More on this one later.

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My First Blog Entry is about Flex.

08Jun06

For those who know me, I have spent the last 4+ years working with Coldfusion, from simple websites, to large intranet based applications. During this time I have also done some work with the PDF format, for a variety of different reports.

The main reason for pointing out my main line of experience is that recently I have been getting my feet wet in territory that is new for me. "FLEX 2.0". I think that many of the Coldfusion developers out there are doing the same, and if they aren't, they should probably seriously start considering it. Even Flash is relatively new to me, in that I have done flash work in the past, but very little at that.

Although I'm still learning Flex 2, I'm really starting to enjoy working with it.

I'm sure you don't want me to go on about me, so I will give you two things.

1. If your not already, at least have a look at Flex 2. I'm sure you'll be impressed. For those thinking "I just don't have the time". Ask yourself if you can spare 15 minutes a day? maybe during your lunch break? to have a look at what Flex can achieve for you.
2. A URL of my first flex creation, any comments or questions would be appriciated. (Flash Player 9 Required)
   My Flex Widget  Screenshot (Thanks to Rocketboots).

Just a little something I haven't seen mentioned in any blogs. Although Adobe have not released much information about the licencing and pricing of Flex Builder, something I read in some of the documentation indicates that there will be at least two versions of Flex Builder. Flex Builder with Charting and Flex Builder without Charting?

Filed under: Flex   |  Leave a Comment